Mornie Alantuva Darkness Will Fall
by Morianna Phoenix
Summary: Fate is in Lorwen's hands.Will those who fight for salvation be able to aid her in resisting the DarkOne's call,or will both realms fall into ruin?None know.For the future is rarely plain,sometimes mysterious,often cloudy,always changing,and never certain
1. Family Tree and Summary etc

**Title: Mornië Alantuva (Darkness Will Fall)**

**Author: Morianna Phoenix**

**Beta: Raninwaters**

**Commissioner: Nyx Nox Night**

**Commission (Nyx's Requirements): This is a prequel to Nyx Nox Night's story "By Blood" which is a BtVS/HP/LOtR crossover. This story is the history of the character who in "By Blood" is called Morianna Snape. Said character must be "half-elven" and half something else. The something else shall not be revealed in the commission itself lest it ruin part of the mystery. She will have "the Sight" or what the elves call Farseeing and she will (eventually) be able to control the element of fire. She will have two prophecies made about her and she will make a prophecy and in two other prophecies she will be mentioned. She has (among many other things which I am not allowed to reveal yet) Istarin blood and thus can use magic not belonging to the elves. However, she will not be taught how to use her non-elven magic until the end of the story approaches. She is betrothed at birth to Legolas (yes I know, that sounds like a legomance disaster waiting to happen, but they are not madly in love at first sight or anything) who, if you can follow it in the horribly confusing excuse for a family tree bellow, her second cousin. She must have a character who, for reasons known only to the Valar, the Commissioner, and the Author, is linked by magic and by blood to her. By magic they will be twins and the other will be Morianna's Anchor. Morianna is made from raw magic, the variety of which will be revealed as the story progresses. Because she has the gift of Farseeing, she inherits a certain power from her father which, among other things, allows her to know when people are not telling the truth or when they are hiding something. Her 'twin' will also have the Sight, but cannot use it at her will, as Morianna will be taught to do by Galadriel later in the story. Most of this story takes place in Middle-earth (Endor), but on occasion certain characters who are related to Morianna will pass through the Gateway to visit Earth (Haedor), which is the HPverse. These occurrences appear in the story as references more often than full detailed accounts. The Family Tree shown below is as Nyx decreed.**

**Summary: Morianna, or Lorwen, is central to the fate of both Middle-earth and Earth, (which in this story are located in different realms or universes within the one Creation of Eru) either as a pawn or as a power. Melkor, the Dark One who's true name is no longer spoken in Middle-earth, also know as Morgoth has contrived a plan to free himself from his prison and he plans to use Morianna to accomplish this. There will come a time when she will have to decide between what is easy and what is right. There will come a time when the decision of the fate of both realms lies in her hands. But the fate itself does not, for there are others who can sway her in one direction or the other. There are several who would urge her to choose destruction and many who would fight for her to choose salvation, but for a being so intricately linked to darkness, both by magic and by blood, the lure of Evil's power may be too hard to resist. Will those who would fight for the Salvation of both realms, and for her salvation as well, be able to aid her in resisting the Dark One's call? Or will both realms fall into ruin at the End of Days? Not even the Valar, neither in Aman, nor in Neldemardi, can predict that answer. For the future is rarely plain, sometimes mysterious, often cloudy, always changing, and never certain.**

**Genres: General/ Mystery**

**Main Character: Lorwen Elenanariel Elernilian aka Morianna Snape**

**Secondary Character(s): Arwen Undómiel, Legolas Thranduilion, Elernil Ungolmānín**

**Rating: K+**

**Pairings: see family tree below**

**Disclaimer: Middle-earth and all things recognizable from The Lord of the Rings or any other related works belong to J.R.R. Tolkein. The characters of Elernil, Culfin, Ailien, and Marien Gelydhen are the property of J.K. Rowling, though their elven names are mine. Tenshi and her two triplets belong to Nix, as do the English names for Day, Dusk, and Night, though the characters of Dawn, Dusk, Day, and Night all belong to the creators of their respective fandoms. Lowen, Melyanna, Lorien, Belthilion, Marien of the Vanyar, Aerien, Elanor, Anarion, Loryanna/Silmarilliriel, Fëavilyahir/Fëvilyadur, Gilwen, and Gilraen III, Lygongol, Runya, Níniel of Eryn Lasgalen/ Níniel Hiritaurë, Estel Eldamír Erynhir, and Aragorn III all belong to me alone.**

The Family Tree

Morwen the ValaLeuliante the Maia Olwë Finwë (2) Indis

Eärwen Finarfin

Olórin the Maia Runya the Maia Celeborn of Doriath Galadriel

Culfin Palantir the Istar Melyanna of Lorien Elwing Eärendil

Marien of the Vanyar Belthilion (1)Ailien Palantirian Elrond (2)Celebrian Elros

Narvanariel the Maia Elernil Ungolmānín Elladan Gilwen Elrohir Arwen Undómiel Aragorn

(Elernil Vornatar)

Aerien of the Vanyar Thranduil

Legolas Thranduilion Lorwen Elenanariel Elernilian

(Morianna Vornotári/ Melianna)

Níniel Hirotaurë Anarion Erynhir Lailantion Elanor Loryannawen Lailantian Eldarion Telcontar

Faramir Éowyn

Barahir Rohanomír Loryanna Silivren Telcontar

(Silmarilliriel Silivren Telcontar)

Orevanariel Marienian Fëavilhahir Barahiromír Telcontar

(Marienian Gelydhen)

Estel Eldamir Erynhir Arwen Aduialiel Telcontar

Aragorn Elessar Telcontar Gilraen Imladrisoriel Elladanian

(Aragorn III) (Gilraen III)


	2. Prologue, Part I

**Author's Note: I know that the family tree in the last entry doesn't look anything like a family tree, but I just can't figure out how to keep the formating once I up load it. I appologize for that and I hope to find a way to fix it, so I'll keep it the way it is for now. If I can't find a way to format it correctly, then I suppose I'll take it out of the Summary etc. page. Some of the family tree will actually be explained in this chapter, so hopefully it will help anyone who is confused. Please review and tell me what you think of the prologue and whether or not I should post a part two, or just have the events of the prologue revisited and explained later on in another chapter. I don't mind constructive criticism (note the word constructive) and I especially appreciate reviews in which readers give me their opinion on things such as my writing style, any guesses they might have about future events in the story, and which parts of the chapters they liked and why. If my reviewers could add some of these things into there reviews, it would be very helpful to me. Thanks, so here's the story:**

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****Mornië Alantuva: Prologue, Part I**

(SA 1699, the year before Sauron's war with the elves ended)

All was peaceful in the forest, one of the few peaceful places left for the First-born in Endor. All the elves of the forest, even the ones who usually had night boarder patrol duty, were sleeping, untroubled, at home, in their beds; all but one.

Galadriel, Lady of the Wood, was lying next to her husband, in her own bed, in her own home, but she was wide awake, and though she did not move a muscle, she was restless. Normally, she would know what it was that troubled her if she were troubled, but tonight, she could not name what had come over her to make her feel so. She was fighting the urge to get up and go….. somewhere. She didn't know where, but as she pondered where she could possibly want to go at that time of night, the urge gradually became stronger until it became nearly impossible for her to lie still. Then, on its own, with no prompting from her, Nenya gave out a brief, but bright flash of light. Startled, she finally set up and stared at it a moment. It had never done that before. And before she even think about it for a moment longer, her feet where carrying her to she knew not where, as if she were being controlled by something or someone else.

As she took strange pathways that she rarely ever used out of the palace and into the Wood, she became afraid. She could not control her own body. What if Morgoth's servant, Sauron had found a way to control her ring as he had found a way to control the rings of men and through them, their wearers? She knew that she, even without Nenya, had great power, power that if used for evil could be devastating. She prayed to Varda that she had not fallen into Sauron's trap again, that her fears were ungrounded.

When she finally arrived at her destination, the feeling of being controlled vanished, and she nearly collapsed in relief seeing where her ring had brought her. She found herself standing in the starlit clearing where the basin of her mirror stood on its pedestal. She _would_ have collapsed had not Nenya given off an insistent pulse of light, which was reflected by the crystal pitcher of water that was set by the side of the basin. Then she finally understood that she was meant to look into her mirror, and, though what Nenya had done made her very wary, she gracefully and silently walked to the basin and filled it with water. She glanced at her ring one more time before looking in the mirror. It had ceased pulsing with light, but still glowed strangely. She had a feeling that whatever she saw tonight would either be very important or very different from the other things she had seen, or perhaps it would be both.

Taking a deep breath, she looked away from her ring and gazed into her crystal mirror. Immediately, she was pulled into the vision as images began to flash before her sight. The first things she saw were things from the past, her own past in fact. The first images were almost painful to watch as guilt welled up in her heart: Her father, her uncles, her brothers and her cousins were leading the Noldor out of Eldamar, out of Valinor and back to Endor. She was confessing to Melian what the host of Fëanor had done, the kinslayig. She watched as Melian's beautiful kingdom of Doriath was attacked, pillaged, and then utterly destroyed. She saw herself fleeing. Then she saw herself, many years later coming to the land that was now called Lothlórien and building a kingdom of her own, attempting to replicate what Melian had done in creating the protective girdle around Doriath, saw herself collapse in exhaustion after achieving the feet. She an elf had just done, by herself and without the help of any Ring of Power, without even an anchor, what it had taken a Maia to do before. She saw the forging of the Twenty, though there should only have been nineteen, Rings of Power: Nine for the Kings of Men, Seven for the Dwarf Lords, Three for the Elven Lords (and Lady) and the One Ring. Then the vision changed. She saw her the elder of her two daughters, Melyanna, marring Culfin Palantír, the full-blooded, yet flesh and blood Maia who called himself an Istar, and the birth of their two children, first their son, Belthilion, who chose to be an Istar, not an elf, and then their daughter, Ailien, who –though she could in times of dire need use the Istarín magic that was in her blood- otherwise chose to be a child of Ilúvatar, obviously an elf, since she hadn't a drop of mortal blood in her. Returning once more to an earlier time, she saw her younger daughter, Celebrían's birth. Then the images went much further back and she watched as the lines of Finwë, Olwë, and his brother Elwë, better known to her as Thingol, split and reformed. Elwë, after three generations had only one descendant, Elwing, the half-elven who first chose to become immortal. Finwë, through his son Fingolfin, after four generations also had only one descendent, Eärendil, the half-elven who first chose to become mortal. Eärendil and Elwing wed and had twin sons, Elrond and Elros, and in those half-elven twins, the lines of Finwë and Elwë were united. She watched as one day, when given the choice, Elrond chose to be of the first-born, while Elros chose to become mortal and so the line was split again. But with Ailien's marriage to Elrond, the lines or Olwë and Finwë were united in their son Elernil Ungolmānín, as they were with the Elrond's second marriage, to Celebrían in Elladan and Elrohir, and more importantly, in Arwen Undómiel. Then, many long years after this, Arwen married a man named Elessar Telcontar, or Aragorn, the heir of a man named Isildur, who was a descendant of Elros. Their son, Eldarion eventually married the granddaughter of Elernil and in their daughter Lorryana, at last, the lines of Finwë, Elwë, and Olwë were all united. This unification, she knew was very far in the future. Again, time rewound and she saw Culfin walk through an archway somewhere in Lorien and simply vanish, then she saw Ailien do exactly the same thing, and watched as her family mourned her supposed death. She saw Elernil, Lorwen, Legolas, Elanor, Anarion, Elrond, Elladan, Elrohir, Arwen, and she herself pass through the archway as well. On the other side of the archway was someplace she knew was not Lothlórien, but she could not see it clearly. It was as if a fog blocked her way. Then she saw all of them returning to Lothlórien. Suddenly there was a great leap forward in time and the images she saw began to go by even more rapidly. She saw Loryanna again, but this time at her coronation and to Galadriel's shock, the crown placed on her head was made of Mithril (this part did not surprise her) and in it were set ALL THREE SILMARILLI. She saw Loryanna, now called Silmarilliriel's mortal husband die and the Gondorian queen's shocking survival. She saw their son, Fëavilyahir or as he preferred, thinking his name was a bit too close to hubris, since it meant Lord of the spirit of Air, which was a title that belonged to Manwë, Fëvilyadur marrying the younger daughter of Marien and Belthilion, whose name was Marienian Gelydhen. She saw their daughter Arwen Aduialiel marry the Estel Eldamir Erynhirion. She saw their son, Aragorn III marry the pheredhel daughter of Elladan, who bore the name of Gilraen Imladrisoriel. Then she saw Arwen Aduialiel and Ested sailing to Valinor and being greeted by Galadriel herself, Elrond, Celeborn, Gandulf, Elanor, Eldarion, Silmarilliriel, Fëvilyadur, Gelydhen, and clearest of all, Lorwen.

With a shocking jolt, Galadriel's mind and spirit were forcefully pushed out of the vision and her body was literally thrown away from the basin. The power that had pushed her away had been terrifyingly strong. She had seen too much. Her soul had gone too far ahead and it would not come back. The body of the Queen lay helpless and motionless with her eyes closed, at the foot of a tree at the edge of the clearing. She was lost. She could not find her body. She knew that if she did not find her body within several more minutes, it would die and she would be lost forever in the whirlwind of images. She didn't want to see them. Some of them were dark and frightened her horribly, but she could not find her body, could not see anything through the whirlwind. Then, suddenly, she saw a brilliant light, like a beacon and followed it, without knowing what it was, fighting her way toward it through the whirlwind. She had almost reached the source of the light when something dark clawed at her arm. She knew her body was beginning to fade by now. She fought to pull her arm free from the dark thing which had no form, and in response the light flashed out with even greater strength. The dark thing vanished and she was engulfed by the light. All she knew was the light, and the sensation of floating on water, the sound of a river. And then she knew nothing.


	3. Prologue, Part II

**Author's note: I realize that the first part of the prologue made little or no sense in relation to what has been established as the plot line of this fic and I also figured that people would want to know what happened to Galadriel in Part I of the Prologue. So this is the explanation of sorts of what happens to her afterwards and what comes of her vision. And also, it attempts to draw a link between the events of the prologue and the rest of the plotline. I hope this clears things up and I hope everyone enjoys it. As for the Haldir thing, it's not listed anywhere when he was born so I took the poetic license to assume that he was alive in SA 1699. If anyone knows when he was born and I am incorrect, feel free to tell me, but please do so politely. Realize I have limited resources to work with and that this is, after all, an AU story anyway. Thanks for reading and please review.**

Mornië Alantuva-Prologue, Part II:

Celeborn woke to find himself alone. Frowning, he got up and began to mentally search for his wife, who had never just disappeared during the night unless she had a good reason to do so, and on those occasions, she had always told him she was going through his dreams. He had had no such dreams that night. Having scanned the entire palace and the grove surrounding it and not having found her, he began to worry. His wife did not just disappear that way. He didn't bother to change into a fresh set of robes, he left his room and made his way through the palace and to the cluster of dwellings immediately outside. Then, he proceeded to clime right up to the Captain of the Gaurd, Haldir's talan and just walked in, completely unannounced. "Haldir," he called in a louder-that-necessary voice. The sleeping elf suddenly bolted awake and then stared up at Celeborn in bewilderment and confusion for several minutes before it occurred to him that the appropriate thing to do was to stand up. Doing so as gracefully as possibly, whilst simultaneously trying to figure out what in the Valar's names was happening that would cause Lord Celeborn himself to personally wake up Haldir in order to talk to him. It must have been something terrible because the king of Lothlórien did not even attempt to disguise the worry and agitation he felt.

"Yes, my Lord Celeborn," Haldir finally managed to say in a voice that could almost pass for normal, "what is the situation?" As he said this, the somewhat flustered Captain of the Guard straightened out his clothing and hair as best he could.

"My wife has disappeared and I was given no warning of it. I cannot locate her with my mind and therefore, I have want two things. First, I want to know if you saw her leaving the palace during the night. Second, if your answer is no, then I want you to find her."

Not even bothering to answer the first question, Haldir merely said, "I shall go assemble search parties, my Lord." He then bowed and with a nod of dismissal from the king, he went to assemble the Guard. He split them into a number of search parties and assigned each party a particular, specific area of the forest to search. As he set out with the last party, Haldir sighed. The forest of Lothlórien was enormous in geographical area. It was gong to be a long day.

It was almost dusk and none of the parties had found any sign of the queen. As he walked along the band of a river, Haldir contemplated the dilemma. What in Endor was he supposed to tell the king? That Lady Galadriel had simply vanished right out of the kingdom? That regardless of the fact that Celeborn himself had telepathically searched the palace and the grove surrounding it, regardless of the fact that every inch of the forest that the king had not checked had been scoured by the Guard, there had been no sign whatsoever of the queen? He paused a moment, sending the rest of his party ahead, and attempted to ease the tension he felt. And when he paused, he could have sworn he heard a whisper. Shaking his head to rid himself of that notion, he was about to rejoin the the group, when he heard the whisper once more. It was wordless, and yet it conveyed the command to follow. 'I must be going mad,' he thought to himself as he began heading in the direction he had sent the group, a direction that lead him away from the river. The further he got from the river, the less it seemed to whisper and after a distance it ceased all together. He walked for perhaps half a dozen paces after this, when suddenly a bird flew out of a tree and past him to a tree behind him. It had flown so close in passing that the tip of one of its wings had brushed across his cheek. Unnerved, he turned around and saw a white nightingale staring down at him from its perch on a tree branch with unusually aware eyes.

'_Follow,'_ he heard another's voice speak in his head. He had the strangest impression that it had come from the bird. But that was absurd. Birds did not, as far as he knew, communicate telepathically. Then with a start he remembered that Melian, Galadriel's mentor, the one whose kingdom Lothlórien had been modeled after, had been said to sometimes take the for of a nightingale. '_Follow my Haldir of Lorien, if you wish to find your queen.'_ In amazement, he realized that he could not have imagined the voice this time. It was the voice of someone who had power and wisdom, who commanded respect and yet was gentle and kind, someone very much like the queen. The queen who was said to be so much like Melian. And he knew the voice was coming from the nightingale. So he followed it. The bird that was not really a nird lead him back to the river, which the followed back into the grove and along a pathway to what seemed to be a secluded area. The nightingale landed momentarily on a branch where Haldir could see it. '_Take cane of my confidant, Haldir of Lorien. I told her many things that must not be lost,' _the now distinctly female voice commanded, '_She must not be lost or Lorien will fall just as Doriat did when I left it. She must not be lost.'_ Then the bird took to the sky and disappeared from sight.

Still dumbstruck, he entered the clearing of the grave to which the 'bird' had led him. It was the place where the queen's mirror was kept. He saw water in the basin, sparkling in the deep golden light of the falling sun, and he saw that sparkle reflected in the empty crystal pitcher. Then he saw it glint off something else, which just happened to be the stone set into Galadriel's mithril ring-band. The queen was lying with her eyes closed at the foot of a tree, unconscious. Her golden hair was splayed out all around her.

Quickly, he pulled a whistle off a hook on his belt and blew into it. A loud, high-pitched trill sounded through the forest as a result. It was a sound any of the elves in the forest could hear, and today it was used to signal that the queen had been found and was being brought to the palace.

Shortly after the whistle sounded, Celeborn strode into the room of healing, having had to restrain himself from breaking into a run in the corridors. Immediately, he was standing next to the bed his wife was lying in, demanding of the healer in attendance what had happened.

"All we know, My Lord, is that when Captain Haldir found her near her mirror, she was lying unconscious by the foot of a tree at the edge of the clearing. W have tried our best, but she will not wake." The elf answered as succinctly and with as much detail as he could. He did not completely understand what was going on, after all, he was only a healer's apprentice.

For four excruciatingly long days and three nights, all of Lorien held its breath fearfully as the queen's condition did not improve. Then finally on the fourth night, there was a change. The head healer, Aerien, was sitting by the bed alone, having finally managed somehow to convince Celeborn to retire to his own rooms for the night, praying to Elbereth that the kingdom's beloved ruler would wake and return to them. Knowing that it wouldn't help, but being unable to sit idly, the healer stood and checked once more that the queen was indeed still breathing. Then she reached out her hand, planning to make sure that her patient's already dangerously slow pulse had not slowed any further. Before she could put her fingers to the pale wrist of the ailing ruler, her own arm was suddenly grabbed in a vice-like grip. Aerien would have screamed, but the suddenly awake, though entranced, queen spoke out in a voice that was urgent and frightening,

"When the Dark One's servant has fallen

and the Dark One is cast out,

When the Gateway is discovered

and a rift through worlds been found,

When a foreign power stubles out of shadow

and tat power and a power of this land combine,

Then there will be a child born, who of two realms is.

When two worlds are shown two fated

and the child holds fate in its hands,

When the child by the Lord of Darkness is led

and the child's hands are bound,

When a child is born of two realms

and the gateway has been opened,

Then fear the wrath of the Dark One

and beware the child of two souls."

Galadriel's grip on the healer's arm relaxed and the golden-haired Lady collapsed back into the bed, unable to remain sitting any longer, and weak, but at last awake, she looked wearily up at the shocked elf beside the bed. "Write that down for me, Aerien. It must not be lost and I am so tired that I shall have forgotten it by dawn." And having given that one order, the exhausted queen fell into a deep, but normal and peaceful sleep.

After Celeborn had returned to watch over his wife, Aerien did as she had been told and, once the queen had recovered, given the scroll to her. Galadriel then hid the scroll somewhere she deemed safe and the only ones to know of the document's existence were Galadriel, Aerien, and perhaps Celeborn. Only Galadriel however, knew where it was hidden. And hidden it would remain for many long years, untouched, unread, and eventually thought of so infrequently that it was nearly forgotten. Until one day when an innocent question from the tongue of an innocent child would awaken the mind of a god long-thought dead.


	4. Chapter One

**Author's Note: This is the second version I have written for chapter one. The first version had all the dialogue in elvish (with translations) and didn't cover as much as I wanted it to. Also, it made Lorwen seem slightly Mary Sue-ish. I think that she probably still seems like that, but to a lesser degree. If you have complaints about this, please direct them to Nyx Nox Night, my commissioner, because everything that makes Lorwen seem that way is unfortunately a requirement. Also, I have altered the ages of the twins and Legolas (who won't show up for many chapters) so that the twins are two years older than Arwen and Lorwen, and Legolas is older than the girls by one year. Other than that, I don't have very much to say except, please review (if you don't review, I don't write) and enjoy the story.**

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Mornië Alantuva - Chapter One:

(250 TA, Imladris)

It was a spring morning in Imladris and the sun shone gloriously on the sparkling waterfalls and through the emerald leaves of the forest's trees. This particular spring morning found Elernil, the eldest of Lord Elrond's four children, ambling along his favorite path through the forests of Rivendell with his young daughter at his side. Like all of Elrond's house, they had dark hair and blue eyes. The child's eyes were royal blue, just like her aunt's and her hair was midnight black. Elernil himself also had midnight black hair and blue eyes, but his eyes were so dark a shade of blue that they appeared black. With the exception of his eyes, Elernil was the spitting image of is father, and his daughter bore remarkable resemblance to his sister Arwen, who though she was the girl's aunt, had been born on the same day at precisely the same time as his daughter.

"Ada," his daughter asked, after they had walked in peaceful silence for some time, "Who was my naneth?" The elven prince stopped walking abruptly as he tuned to face his daughter, taken completely by surprise by her question. Lorwen had never met her mother, though her mother still lived. Elernil's wife had not died giving birth to Lorwen, as he had always told the child she had. The poor girl did not even know what her mother looked like. She at least deserved to know her mother's name, but not her real one, only her elven name, the name Elernil had given her when he introduced her to his father. That name could not possibly hurt, especially when Lorwen believed her mother had been of the Edain.

"Her name was Narvanariel," he replied after a moment, remembering the amusement his wife had taken from the meaning of her new name, 'fair fire maiden', which was a reference both to her temper and to her strange ability to control the element of fire. The fondness with which he was regarding the memory quickly faded as his daughter once more called his attention to herself. Somehow, the child sensed his hesitance and knew at once that he was not quite telling the truth.

"Naneth was of the Edain. Narvanariel is not the name of an Adan. That wasn't her name." The tone of her voice was almost accusatory. He looked down at her in bewilderment. He would never have expected her to be so quick to catch that fact or be astute enough to realize that he had not told her the unaltered truth. He sighed, hoping that his next statement would not spark too much curiosity in the elfling who was currently looking up at him expectantly, awaiting his response.

"Her real name, the one I did not give her was Tenshi," he admitted. 'Please let that be enough to satisfy her,' he begged the Valar. Apparently the Valar did not hear him. For his daughter promptly caught another discrepancy in what she had been told of her mother.

"What language is that name in?" It is not in any language of the Elves. It is not in any language of Men." Again the question was unspoken, but very demanding. From the look in her eyes, he knew she was curious enough to find out something sooner or later. Better later than sooner, in his opinion. To stall her, unfortunately, he would have to lie. Again. Not just a half truth. But a lie. Elernil hated lying to his daughter, but he had done it before and he would do it again, as many times as needed if it would keep her away from the place the truth would lead her, a place that was, at the moment, quite dangerous, a place he himself did not like the idea of returning to any time soon. And so he lied.

"I don't know what language it is in. I know only that in Quenya and Sindarin, it means 'Vala'." This time, he had schooled his features into his best expression of honesty and made his voice as sincere and confident as possible. Those two things along with the added truth at the end, combined with the simplicity of the lie were enough to convince his daughter that he was actually answering her question in complete truth. For a moment, Lorwen stared off into space, thinking very hard. Then her royal blue eyes went back to his almost onyx ones and she asked another question, but this time it was one that he found harmless.

"If her name was Vala, does that mean she was one of the Valar?" At his confused daughter's question, he chuckled, relieved that she was thinking and acting like a child again. The question seemed so harmless that the words slipped out of his mouth before he could realize what he was saying.

"No, she wasn't a Vala, not in Arda anyway." Immediately after the words left his tongue however, he realized his grave mistake. In that one sentence, he had told her volumes more than her other questions could possibly have persuaded him to reveal. He would have added some comment to the effect of him not knowing of any place other than Arda however and thus, the girl's mother couldn't possibly be a Vala, she abruptly cut him off with yet another question.

"What isn't in Arda? What other places are there? Everything is in Arda. Arda is everything." The last two statements summed up the little girl's understanding of the universe as of that moment at age nine. And they had been said with such conviction, and with a tinge of something that resembled outrage, as if she was accusing him of a crime for daring to suggest that more than Arda, the realm of _her_ valar existed, that more than the valar she knew of existed, that the mythology, the _religion_ upon which she had founded her perception of the world, was not complete as it was, that there was something _more_. And from that little tinge of outrage Elernil knew there was no way, in that realm, or in any other, that she could be soothed by a statement like the one he had been prepared to use. He had done with a mere slip of the tongue, precisely what he had been trying to prevent his daughter from eventually doing: discovering a secret that was so well guarded that only three people, that he knew of, had knowledge of it. Regardless, he could not take it back or cover it up. He had, as was commonly said in that other place which he was so reluctant to name, opened up the proverbial Pandora's Box, whoever Pandora was. And there was no way to close it, therefore he resigned himself to telling her the truth.

"Everything is not in Arda. iel-nín, Eä, the whole creation of Eru is everything. Arda is only one part of that creation. Think to what 'arda' means. It means 'region'. Arda is only one region of Eä, and there are other realms, other regions contained within the great creation. The realm your mother came from was given the name Anarrond (1), and her home in Arnarrond was in a place given the name Firnarondor in Haedor(2)."

"Firnarondor? The land of the dead?" This name frightened Lorwen and she meekly asked, "Is that like Mandos?"

"No," her father replied, "It is not like the halls of Mandos, for Firnarondor is the dwelling place of one of Arnarrond's three Valar, Morwen Firnatári, and this very same Morwen is the mother of your naneth. Tenshi was not merely a vala of darkness, she was a vala of death." He finally summoned up the courage to glance down at his daughter.

"Was naneth like Sauron then?" Her voice trembled as she asked this. Seeing the confusion and fear in his nine-year-old daughter's eyes, he immediately picked her up and hugged her tightly.

"Your naneth was not evil. She had a good soul, full of fire and because of that fire, light." These words made her quite relieved. Elernil knew Lorwen would be fine when he saw the sparkle in her eyes as she finally reached a certain conclusion and so he put her down again.

"That makes me half-vala!" With this, she smiled brilliantly. "Ada, let's go! Let's go home so that I can tell Arwen!" Tugging at her father's sleeve as she spoke, Lorwen all but dragged Elernil back to the palace. When they at last reached the stairs that led up to the entrance, Elernil held his daughter back. He didn't want to ruin his daughter's mood, but it was simply impossible for her to tell Arwen without Elrond finding our. And if his father did find out how large and how dangerous a secret his eldest son had been keeping from him- Elernil did not even want to think about it. "Lorwen, my child, you can't tell Arwen. You cannot tell a single soul."

"Ada! Arwen won't tell, I-"

"You shall not! Lorwen Elenarnariel Elernilian of the house of Elrond, give me your word that you will not speak a single word of this to any one, ever." Startled by the seriousness and near desperation in her father's voice, Lorwen nodded meekly in acquiescence.

"Antanyël vandanyá, Atar," (I give you my vow.) She promised in formal and perfect Quenya, as if in ceremony, to prove that she meant it.

"All is well then. Now, go and find your friend," he urged and sighed in relief as she ran to the gardens to find her best friend. He listened until he heard her great his little sister, and trusting his daughter, he decided to retire to his rooms, suddenly feeling very weary. At least he would be able to sleep peacefully, he thought, knowing that Lorwen's secret would remain a secret.

"Arwen," Lorwen called as she wandered through the gardens that covered one of the terraces of the palace. "Arwen, are you here?" There was no answer for a moment and then a clear but aloof call came from a short distance.

"I am by the water pool!" Following the beautifully designed tile pathway, Lorwen came at last to the courtyard which contained the water pool. The courtyard was tiled in turquoise, as was the pool, which was not a natural one, but one architecturally designed. The tiles sides and bottom of the pool gave the water an ethereal blue color, the color Lorwen imagined the waters in Valinor must be. Arwen was kneeling at the edge of the pool on the blue tile floor that surrounded it. Her pristine white dress was carefully gathered to one side so that it would not get wet as she drew her hand back and forth through the sapphire blue water. Her waist length, wavy brown hair was unbound and hung down like a curtain around her small pale face. Her blue eyes which had taken on the color of the water, were focused intently on the ripples her hand had made. Without looking away from the glistening surface of the pool, she asked mock-innocently and with an undertone of accusation, "Did you get lost in the woods?"

For several seconds, this question made little sense to Lorwen, but then she remembered that she had promised the other girl the previous night that she would go to the stables with Arwen and Arwen's mother to practice riding. "Ai, Arwen, I'm so sorry! I didn't forget my promise. My ada and I were walking in the forest and we lost track of the time." The girl by the water sighed and looked at her niece/ best friend. Their identical blue eyes met for a moment and then Arwen spoke.

"It's alright. Come sit by the pool with me." Glad of the easy change in mood, Lorwen joined the other girl by the side of the pool. For a while, they chattered about various things such as the upcoming arrival of Belthilion, Elernil's uncle. The two girls were in the middle of discussing whether or not Belthilion's former teacher, Mithrandir would be arriving with him, when suddenly, without any warning whatsoever, they were shoved forcefully from the side. Both of them of course fell into the pool and emerged a moment later soaking-wet and infuriated.

Arwen glared scathingly at the two perpetrators, who were sitting on the roots of a nearby tree and laughing as if this were the funniest thing since the legendary tale of Prince Legolas of Mirkwood and the Misfired Arrow. "You two!" The infuriated nine-year-old shouted at her brothers. "I should have known!" The second exclamation only served to make them laugh harder.

Without saying a word in complaint, Lorwen stared very intently at her twin uncles with an expression of outrage and fury, or rather, she stared at the bottom of their robes. After several seconds of intense concentration, much to her surprise, Lorwen managed to accomplish her method of revenge. The bottoms of the twins' robes lit up in fire. This unexpected occurrence caused both the boys to scramble hurriedly toward the pool with identical screams, and seeing no other way to put out the fire, they jumped in. Now it was the girls' turn to laugh hysterically. Arwen was laughing both at the hilarity of the twins' antics and in wonder of her niece's ability. She really wished that she could retaliate against her brothers that easily. What she didn't know was that it wasn't all that easy to do and in fact Lorwen hadn't even really thought it would work. And so the black-haired girl took the opportunity to laugh in glee at her unexpected success. When the two black-haired, blue-eyed boys climbed, sputtering, out of the pool, not only were they drenched in water, but their robes were burnt off all the way up to the knee, where the fabric was comically singed. Before they could launch a second attack on the girls, a musical voice asked in utter confusion, "What in Elbereth's name is going on here? Elladan, Elrohir, why are your robes burnt nearly half off? And why are all of you soaking wet?" Celebrian glanced down at her three children and her step-granddaughter with an eyebrow raised ever so slightly in curiosity, waiting for an answer.

"Those two," Arwen began to explain, gesturing to the twins, "tried to drown us!" She would have said more, but Elladan interrupted.

"And she set our cloaks of fire," he said, pointing to Lorwen.

"And we had to jump in the pool to put the flames out," Elrohir added, explaining the second half of his mother's question. She shook her head and sighed. These four certainly were trouble makers.

"You father will deal with you three," she said to her own children, "and," now addressing Lorwen, "seeing as your father is sleeping, I suppose he shall deal with you as well." A little in dread of the Elven Lord's wrath, the four children reluctantly followed the fair-haired Lady Celebrían up to the palace where Elrond would give out their penalties.

Meanwhile, Elernil, who had, as Celebrían stated, fallen asleep, fell into a very realistic, but impossible dream. _He was standing in a dark throne room, with a high vaulted ceiling and many almost monolithic pillars. In the center of the room was a dais and on the dais, there was a throne. There were only two people in the room besides Elernil himself. There was a woman sitting on the throne and a woman standing next to it. They were deep in conversation, but Elernil heard not a single thing they were saying, because he was too busy staring at one of the women. Not the one in the throne, he knew well who she was, but at the moment cared little. He was staring at the one beside the queen. This other woman was tall and beautiful and her eyes danced with flickering flames. She had long, dark hair and dark eyes and was surrounded by a faint red aura. It was the aura that confirmed what he saw beyond a shadow of a doubt, but he would have known her anywhere, for it was Narvanariel, Tenshi, his Tenshi, whom he had not seen since the day she vanished into a terrifying black vortex, three days after the birth of their child. He crept closer to the pair, but for some reason remained in the deep shadows. It was then he started paying attention to what they were saying, and realized that they were speaking in Ancient Quenya, not in English, that harsh language which he had been forced to learn in Haedor. "Manna útúlierë, Amil? Ar mana cárrë sinomë?" (Where did she come from, Mother? And what is she doing here?) Tenshi sounded highly vexed, almost angry, but the Queen brushed it off and answered in a surprisingly calm manner._

"_Runya sellerlya narë. Narë yeldenya ar meran sana narë sinomë, ar ve nas." (Runya is your sister. She is my daughter and I wish for her to be here, and so it is.)_

"_Mal manna útúlierë?" (But where did she come from?) Tenshi demanded once more._

"_Ardallo," was the only word Morwen Firnitári would say after that, and so, fuming Tenshi stalked out of the room, incinerating the doorway instead of just opening it. The last thing Elernil heard before everything went blank, was his wife muttering, in English, "First Culfin, then Belthilion- thank the other valar he went back to Middle-earth- and Marien, who isn't even one of Mother's children and yet, she favors her over us, now Runya, my most precious, more powerful, more beloved half sister. How many more of these goddess-forsaken Maiar is she going to bring to Earth!"_

Somewhere not far from Imladris, a tall old man dressed in grey and leaning on a staff as a walking stick looked down at his hand to see the ruby jewel set into his golden ring glow almost imperceptibly for a moment and then abruptly stop. And then he knew she had gone.

* * *

(1)Arnarrond- Quenya, from arnar 'sun' and rond 'dome' 'Sundome'; Arnarrond is our universe

(2)Haedor- Quenya, from hae 'far' and dor 'earth' "Far-earth" aka Earth.

**Feel free to ask any questions you're pondering or even guess at answering them in your reviews. I can't answer your questions within the post, but I would like to know what it is that gets you thinking and which way you think the story will go. Also I need atleast six reviews if I'm going to post the next chapter. Six real reviews (As in, not flames, and not one or two liners). Thanks!**

**-Morianna Phoenix**


	5. Chapter Two

**Author's note: Okay, I have GOT to stop loosing the notebook I write the rough drafts in! Sorry about the abhorrently long delay. I would like to dedicate this chapter to War Princess because she specifically threatened to throw a tantrum if I didn't post soon. She's also the best reviewer I have, along with Angelis-Sensei (sorry Nyx, but you still aren't too great at literary reviews). Thanks to every one who reviewed. Here's the chapter I promised.**

Mornië Alantuva - Chapter Two – Punishments and Problems:

(Somewhere on a road near Imladris)

"What's wrong, Mithrandir," asked a younger looking man with auburn hair and beard and bright blue eyes.

"Nothing, my boy," the Istar replied, looking up from his ring, "just Narya telling me something, but nothing bad."

"It has some importance. You had that far-off look in your eyes, grandfather, the one that means you're seeing something a thousand miles away."

"No miles at all, Belthilion," Mithrandir replied cryptically, "Merely Elsewhere." (A/n: the e is supposed to be capitalized.)

"You're worse than my father! At least he speaks in normal speech, albeit very _vague_ speech, instead of always speaking in riddles," Belthilion declared with a sigh.

For a moment, Mithrandir seemed lost in thought over this declaration and then he said in all seriousness, "You do have a point there. Culfin doesn't speak in riddles half as often as he should do. I'll have to have a word with him next time I see him." Here he paused for a moment, his face still wearing the look of seriousness as he looked pointedly at his grandson. Then with a sigh he said, "Alas, I suppose not everyone can speak in riddles all the time." Then his voice lost a little of its solemn tone. "It must have something to do with existing before the beginning of time." With this having been concluded, he watched the other Istar's expression until it changed from intense concentration to understanding.

"I see. What you saw or sensed through Narya was that another one of the Ainur went to Haedor." Mithrandir nodded in satisfaction at this interpretation, but said nothing to expand upon it. "But _who _went, and_ why_?

"That, my boy," the Grey Wizard said with a smile, "is something you shall have to find out later. I believe that Lord Elrond is expecting us for lunch and we shall certainly be late if we sit here pondering riddles all morning. Come along now," he ordered, beginning to once again walk along the path that would lead them to Imladris. "And, if we miss lunch, then we won't have anything to eat until supper. After all, we can't all be lucky enough to be hobbits and have seconds and thirds of every meal, now can we?"

Shaking his head in amusement, Belthilion compliantly followed, silently pondering whether his grandfather's behavior was just the act he claimed it was or if the man had actually gone senile. During ramblings such as the one the other wizard had just given, Belthilion was not completely certain.

(Imladris, The Palace, Elernil's Bedroom)

Waking abruptly, Elernil forced his heart and mind to stop racing. "It was just a dream, just a very realistic dream," he told himself, though he didn't believe a word of what he had just said. For he had long ago learned how to tell the difference between a mere dream and a vision. And that had been no mere dream. Unable to stop himself, his mind leapt into gear. Mentally, he reviewed what he had seen and tried to make sense of the conversation. He knew that the woman on the thrown was Morwen Firnitári, Tenshi's mother, the Haedor's Goddess of death and rebirth, queen of the Underworld. He had met her several hundred years ago when he had joined his grandfather, Culfin Palantír on a journey to Haedor. At that time however, Tenshi was nowhere to be found and he had assumed her gone forever. His vision proved him wrong however. Tenshi was alive and apparently well, if her temper was anything to go by. Nothing that the queen talked about was of any importance. He had already known that the maia Runya, daughter of Morwen and Leuliantë was Tenshi's eldest sibling. It was his wife's ranting in English that had provided him with some very enlightening information. Apparently, Marine, who he recalled was know as Maia in Haedor, was still there and still working for Morwen. Culfin, needless to say was still there, but Elernil had already known that. However he had not known that Belthilion, Culfin's son had returned to Endor. Upon remembering that Mithrandir was supposed to arrive any time now, Elernil realized that if Belthilion had returned, then he in all likelihood would be making an appearance as well. The most valuable piece of information that he had garnered from the dream was the fact that Runya, the Maia of whom there had been neither word nor sight of for over three hundred years, had been summoned to her mother's court. That implied that the situation in Haedor had grown worse. Though how that was even possible, Elernil could not fathom. The only time he had been there, the magical beings in that world had been in the middle of a vicious war. After a long and difficult struggle, his grandfather, Culfin, with the aid of his uncle, Belthilion had killed the evil they had been fighting, a wizard they had called Grindewald. The war had been gruesome and terrible, but even at its pinnacle, there had been no need to ask the help of the Ainur, at least not any of the one's who had existed since the dawn of time. If Runya's help were needed, than the magical beings of Haedor were in deep peril. The eldest son of Elrond shuddered to think what kind of power could have risen there, what kind of destruction was taking place, that Haedor was in such dire need of assistance.

'Adar should know of this,' he thought. Then he said aloud, "and I have a strange suspicion that he will be discussing exactly that with Mithrandir tonight." Pushing those thoughts of worry and fear into the back of his mind with all the force he could muster, Elernil rose from the bed and began to prepare for lunch.

Meanwhile, a floor below his room, Celebrían, along with all four of the children, was standing just outside the door to her husband's library. She knocked softly on the door and all four children looked at each other, exchanging identical expressions of dread, when Lord Elrond opened the door.

Taking in the sight of the children, all four of whom were still dripping wet, one of whom was pouting, two of whom were glaring, and the last of whom was ignoring the two glaring boys in favor of keeping her face devoid of emotion. When he saw that his sons' robes had been burnt off up to the knee, where there were expansive singe-marks, he raised one eyebrow in consternation. After a moment of staring at them, 'the look' plastered on his face the entire time, he asked, without thinking that he should probably have directed the question to his wife, "What in the world have you four managed to get yourselves into _this_ time?" Of course, the loud burst of speech that immediately followed this question was not even remotely coherent, due to the fact that all four children had started speaking at once. To make matters worse, they had then proceeded to start arguing with each other over who was telling the truth. With an inaudible sigh and a momentary glance toward the heavens, as if to ask, 'why me,' Elrond raised both his hands in a halting gesture and cleared his throat loudly. All arguing ceased immediately and all four of the children turned back to face him, all but one of them suddenly seeming to find the white tiles of the floor quite fascinating. The only child who wasn't looking at the floor was the one who had previously been so stoic. She did have her head lowered like the other three and thus managed to look appropriately apologetic, but her eyes were raised and focused intently on her grandfather. She clearly wanted to say something. However, he decided, she would just have to wait until he knew what had taken place.

"Celebrían," he asked, this time wisely preventing another shouting match to break out among the children, "what did they do?"

"I'm not entirely sure if this is the complete truth, since the girls said one thing and the boys another, but if I understand correctly then it happened like this. Arwen and Lorwen were sitting by the water pool in the gardens when the twins ambushed them, pushing them into the water. According to Arwen, the boys were trying to drown them, but this is obviously an exaggeration. When the girls climbed out of the pool, they were infuriated, which is perfectly reasonable. I have no idea what Arwen tried to do, but apparently, Lorwen was angry enough to accidentally set the twins' robes alight with her elemental power, which as you know, occasionally gets out of control. To put the fire out, the boys jumped into the pool. Thus you have four children soaking wet and two with burnt clothing." She finished her interpretation of the events firmly and then, with a quick glance at the four elflings standing behind her, added, "I believe that you would be best able to make sure they all face appropriate consequences."

Elrond also spared a glance at them, his eyebrow still raised. "Indeed," was his only response for some time, as he studied all four of them, evaluating the account he had just heard and mentally assessing who was most at fault. After a moment, his expression returned to normal and he looked at his wife once more. "I think I have a few ideas that would be suitable punishments for each of them." He then led the children into the library, where they were likely to be given yet another lecture before being assigned punishments.

He shut the door and turned around to look at the children, who still had their heads bowed in an attempt to act respectful, and fixed them with a chastising look, before saying in his scolding tone, "Now who would like to tell me, one at a time please, what happened?" The twins shifted from one foot to the other without looking up or saying a word. Despite the look in her eyes, Lorwen remained silent, though did not look so much ashamed as she did unobtrusive. Arwen, who had been the one pouting earlier, was the first one to answer the question.

"It happened exactly like Naneth said. They pushed us in the water and then Lorwen accidentally lit their robes on fire." Her dark brown hair fell on either side of her face like a curtain. She didn't look at the twins or Lorwen, but very hesitantly raised her eyes to meet her father's. "But please don't get mad at her, Ada. She didn't _mean_ set their cloaks on fire." Even at the age of nine, Arwen knew that if someone like Lorwen, who had magic, used their magic to possibly injure someone else who could not likewise defend his or herself, then consequences were very, very severe. Apparently Elrond could read from his daughter's expression exactly what she was worrying about.

"Don't worry, I'm not mad at her. I know she wouldn't hurt the twins knowingly," he reassured her. Then turned to the twins and asked, "Besides Lorwen accidentally lighting your robes on fire, did either of the girls try to retaliate at all?"

Both of the boys, looking ashamed, shook their heads and simultaneously muttered, "No, Adar." Looking back to the girls, Elrond made up his mind.

"Arwen, from all of your stories, you didn't do anything at all, and you, Lorwen, did what you did completely unintentionally, so neither of you will be punished." Then he rounded on the twins. "You two, on the other hand, seem to be the ones at fault and so you will spend the next week helping to reorganize everything in my library by alphabetical order." Elladan and Elrohir both looked horrified at this notion, but wisely, neither of them protested. When Elrond spoke again, his tone was not quite as chastising, and nearly pleasant. "Now all of you will go change into something more suitable than the cloths you are wearing and then come immediately down to lunch. We are expecting visitors, and I will not have any of my children or grandchildren causing a scene by arriving late or by looking unkempt." The four children very willingly complied and nearly raced out of the library, leaving the Lord of Rivendell to sit in peace until lunch.

As it turned out, it was not the children, but the visitors who caused a scene at lunch. The boys were by far the most quiet and subdued they had been in weeks, and the girls were talking excitably but not loudly enough to be impolite. The adults, meaning Elrond, Celebrían, Elernil, Glorfindel, and Erestor (the last two always took their meals with the royal family) were conversing amongst themselves. The meal proceeded in this manner for about twenty minutes, until, during a natural hush in the conversations, Celebrían and Lorwen, neither looking up from their plates, suddenly announced softly and in unison, "The visitors have arrived." Elrond, Erestor, Glorfindel, and the twins all turned to stare at Lorwen. It was a well know fact that the Lady of Imladris had the gift of sight, but none of them had ever seen the slightest hint that the ebony-haired little girl possessed it as well. Lorwen didn't seem to notice their stares however and started talking to Arwen once more. If Celebrían was surprised, she certainly did not show it. And no one seemed to notice that neither Arwen nor Elernil had found anything the least bit strange about Lorwen knowing their guests had arrived. After several minutes had passed and none of the males had looked away from Elrond's only grandchild, Celebrían gave them all a very pointed look. This seemed to bring them back to the present because Erestor and Glorfindel immediately resumed talking and the boys recommenced eating. Elrond looked momentarily at his wife before turning to face his eldest son, only to realize that Elernil was not at the table. A very confused expression came over his face, before the sound of the door to the dining hall being opened drew his attention. Elernil, it appeared, had taken it upon himself to great their visitors, likely because of his father's lack of awareness.

When the two guests entered the room and were recognized, the children, including the twins, all leapt out of their seats and rushed across the room with exclamations of, "Mithrandir! Mithrandir!" The four little elves surrounded the wizard, who in comparison, towered over them. None of them had ever met Belthilion before and in fact, none of them even knew that that was indeed the name of the man accompanying their favorite wizard. Content to just watch as his grandfather was veritably ambushed by the group of overly-exited elflings, Belthilion smiled from where he stood off to the side with Elernil, not the least bit offended that he didn't receive the same welcome.

Soon, the Grey Wizard drew attention to his companion, and Belthilion then had to greet the members of the royal household, but not before Elernil had whispered, "Uncle, I need to speak with you, and preferably without my father present. It has to do with Haedor." This was acknowledged with a nearly imperceptible nod and then the formal introductions began. Some time later, lunch was finished and everyone split up into various groups. The twins were permitted to go play so long as they didn't cause any more trouble –their punishment would start the following day- and Celebrían took the two girls down to the stables to have their riding lesson, as they had planned to do that entire day. Mithrandir announced to Elrond in very quiet tones that he needed to speak to him privately. Elrond agreed and the two departed to his study. Taking that as their cue to leave, Erestor and Glorfindel disappeared off to their various duties. That left Elernil and Belthilion alone, just as Elernil had requested.

After following his nephew down a hallway or two and up several flights of stairs, Belthilion found himself standing in the prince's own study. He took the seat offered to him and waited patiently as Elernil also sat down. "What was it you needed to talk to me about? You mentioned Haedor. What's going on?"

Elernil sighed. "I was hoping you could tell _me._"

"What is that supposed to mean? Come now child, you aren't one of us wizards. There really is no need for you to be so very vague," the auburn haired Istar prompted.

"This morning, just before lunch, I fell asleep and as I slept I had a vision. It involved certain people, certain _familiar_ people. And it gives me reason to believe that the magical community in that place is once more in peril," the elven prince replied, no more straightforward than before.

His uncle sighed exhasperatedly. "For Valar's sake. I never should have let you spend so much time with my father at that bloody school of his." The Istar apparently didn't notice his employment of an English word. Elernil almost didn't catch it either, because it was a translation of the word into Sindarin, but he had to hide a smile. _Who_ had spent too much time in Haedor? "You are beginning to be nearly as vague in your speech as he is. Tell me plainly. What did you see?" Indulging his long absent uncle, Elernil recounted in great detail the contents of his vision. When he finished, Belthilion was sat back in his chair and stared into space for a time a look of worry on his face.

"That is indeed a troubling thought, my boy," he said, not aware of how much _he_, sounded like his father and his grandfather for that matter. His nephew however, was struck by the incredible resemblance between the two and he would have laughed had the situation not been so serious.

"So you don't have any idea what's going on?" Elernil waited impatiently for an answer.

"I'm afraid I don't," replied Belthilion, his bright blue eyes lacking much of their customary twinkle, "I returned from Haedor over a century ago. The magical community was at peace when I left. It is very disturbing that a maia as powerful as my grandmother needed to be called into the fray. It also bothers me greatly that there is such hostility between your wife –who I had no idea was still alive- and those from Endor who have answered Morwen's call for aid. And I don't like the idea of Marien getting any more involved than she was in the first war. From the way Narvanariel spoke of her, it seems she is all too entangled in the affairs of that world. I have no news of any importance except a few facts about your mother and half-brother. Your mother has gone into hiding with her husband for an undetermined length of time. Don't be alarmed," he quickly said, seeing the expression on the elf's face, "I don't believe she's in any personal danger. She told me she was 'disappearing' so that she could reappear later when the time called for it without people wondering about her age or her husband's age or Thanatos' sudden disappearance off the face of the earth." Elernil gave a start at this, but once more, his uncle put his fears to rest, or at least tried to. "Elernil, when I say that your brother disappeared off the face of the earth, I meant it quite literally. He's been taken to the underworld by Morwen for training. He is safe. Nothing can threaten him there, not so long as he is under Morwen's protection." This however was not what Elernil wanted to hear.

"You mean to tell me," demanded the comparatively much younger man, "that that _madwoman_ has abducted my brother and that he is now indubitably involved in one way or another in this unknown but likely quite perilous crisis, and he's apt to do something that could get him killed?"

Belthilion looked up at his nephew, who had, at some point during his tirade, stood up and was now staring down at the Istar with a murderous death glare that could easily rival his father's. "No. I just told you, the last I knew, Thanatos was being confined indefinitely to the Underworld. He's not allowed to go, as he calls it, 'topside'." This apparently provided Elernil with the slightest amount of relief, because he was able to gather his wits and sit down again. Belthilion continued, "What you've told me cannot go uninvestigated. I'll have to return to Haedor as soon as I can get to the portal."

"I'm coming with you," Elernil declared, unwavering determination quite clear in his nearly obsidian eyes.

"Your father isn't going to like that," Belthilion warned apprehensively.

"I don't care," was the stubborn response. Elernil had made up his mind and no one was going to be able to prevent him from doing exactly as he planned.

**I didn't plan to end it there, but the chapter became very unexpectedly long. I hope you enjoyed it. I know there's not much to comment on, but do be kind and review. Things to ponder: (keeping in mind that this is a LotR-HP crossover). Who does Belthilion remind you of from the HP verse? If he looks and sometimes sounds exactly like his father, Culfin, then what HP character is Culfin's alter ego/alias? Also, if Elernil also has a similar alias, what is his name in the HP-verse? In your opinion, did Lorwen really light the twins' robes on fire by accident, or did she do it on purpose? If any of you are reading Nyx Nox Night's By Blood, does Elernil's brother's name ring a bell? What will come of Mithrandir and Elrond's meeting? Feel free to answer these questions, or ask other ones, in reviews. Theories on what you think will happen are also welcome. The next chapter will be posted very soon, as long as you review. Last time I asked for reviews, I got three. I asked for six. Since this chapter is about three times as long and has much more in it to think about, I request at least nine. Nine reviews is not asking for too much when the chapter is fourteen pages long. Anyway, the next chapter will expand upon Lorwen's eerie ability to know things ahead of time.**


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